Cooper Flagg has been dominant for the Duke basketball team over the last few weeks but it felt like something has been off while watching him.
In the Blue Devils’ victory against Syracuse on Wednesday, Flagg wasn’t looking to score nor was he aggressive on the offensive end and finished with only 11 points on 4-of-7 shooting from the field in 28 minutes in a blowout victory.
It was more of the same for the first 34 minutes of Duke’s (20-3, 12-1 ACC) loss at Clemson in which he was nonexistent before shining in the final six minutes and after the game he revealed he has been battling an illness.
“I’ve been a little bit under the weather with a cold, virus or whatever,” Flagg said after the 77-71 loss. “No excuses. I’ve got to be able to play through it. Have to find a way.”
Cooper Flagg was also dealing with cramping late in the second half but never had to come off the court as he finished with 18 points on 6-of-17 shooting.
“We still made plays throughout the end of the game, and we’re in a position to win the game. We’ve got to come out and make those plays.”
Duke has been missing forward Mason Gillis for its last two games due to an illness that forced him to remain in Durham and not travel with the team.
Jon Scheyer confirmed Flagg’s illness during the ACC teleconference on Monday saying that it has limited his game preparation but did not get into specifics if the freshman superstar has missed practice.
The Blue Devils return to the court on Wednesday night (9:00 p.m. ET, ACC Network) against California (12-12, 5-8 ACC) inside Cameron Indoor Stadium while hosting Stanford (16-8, 8-5 ACC) on Saturday afternoon (4:00 p.m. ET, ABC).